[Review] — Preston & Child's "The Cabinet of Dr. Leng"

The revelation that the Pendergast series by Preston & Child presently spans 21 novels is mind-blowing. It feels like just yesterday that the film adaptation of Relic was in theaters, but in reality—I just "Googled" this—it's been twenty-six years since the film's release. I feel old. Holy sh*t. Well, time flies. I remember watching the movie in a theater when I was a teenager. The novel Relic is even older, published in 1995.

The newest Pendergast thriller, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng (Available to buy on Hardcover and Kindle.), is part three of a quartet that began with The Cabinet of Curiosities (3rd book in the series, published in 2002) and Bloodless (the 20th book; posted 2021) and will conclude with the next Pendergast novel. The ending of Bloodless had Constance Greene traveling back in time to 1880 New York (in an alternate timeline) to save her sister, brother, and younger self from the mad scientist Dr. Enonch Leng (a.k.a. Antoine Leng Pendergast). 

Constance's story continues in The Cabinet of Dr. Leng. Meanwhile, FBI Special Agent Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, investigate the death of a Lakota Indian in South Dakota. Eventually, Pendergast gets sidelined by fixing the machine, so he can locate Constance and bring her home. Also, Detective Vincent D’Agosta is back—this time investigating the murder of a museum curator found frozen in a vault.

I hadn't read anything by Douglas Preston or Lincoln Child in quite a while, and I hadn't realized when I started The Cabinet of Dr. Leng that it was the third book in a quartet that began with The Cabinet of Curiosities in 2002 and continued with Bloodless in 2021, neither of which I had read. Still, I had no problem figuring out the relevant aspects of the earlier novels. The authors do a fantastic job explaining what happened with Constance, who has traveled back to a parallel timeline. Although I enjoyed every bit of Coldmoon's investigation in the present, I believe that Constance's storyline is the best aspect of this novel.      

Overall, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng is a well-written time-bending thriller with a few unexpected twists and turns. And the conclusion is... Warning: It finishes on a cliffhanger. I, for one, am eagerly anticipating the next installment, whenever that may be. Meanwhile, I've already checked out and read The Cabinet of Curiosities and Bloodless from the library. If only I could time-travel to the future and read the next installment. —★★★★★